What does the historical record reveal and what does it hide? Lately scholars of global empires have been reconsidering how records affect the stories we tell and the lives we live. But academic writing on the “archival turn” is often theortetically dense and difficult to access. This open seminar brings together some of the world’s leading scholars of colonial Latin America to make sense of this trend and why it matters:

Are data or evidence ever representative of lived reality?

Are we living in a “post-truth” moment?

How are our understandings of being undocumented or of genealogies historically shaped?

If you don’t immediately understand the readings, don’t despair! This seminar is for you! Students and faculty, whether specializing in colonialism or Latin America or neither, are warmly invited to join this open, egalitarian, and expert group.